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Thursday, March 31, 2011

Lowes and Home Depot are both having some amazing weekend sales, including 50% of many annuals. If you are wanting to get your flower beds ready, now is the time (well, except for you Mainers who are getting more snow...)

I've signed on to another "deal" site called offandaway. It's an auction type site that let's you buy bids for really high end hotels. I haven't bought any yet, but if you are looking to do something really special for an anniversary or something, this would be a cool way to get it. A few days ago, a California hotel went for $14.00!! Most aren't that cheap, but it's still worth looking into. Check it out here: http://www.offandaway.com/invite/patriciacliff

For my triad friends: I had the opportunity to check out the Sear's Outlet on Bridford Parkway (it's connected to the K-Mart right there on Wendover). If you are looking to purchase any appliances, I HIGHLY recommend that you check there first. They have many items that are either returns or new-in-the-box discontinued products for 50% off or more. I was VERY impressed with the selection. And it's next door to Ollies (think Big Lots), so you can check that out also. While I was in the area, I used a coupon: http://quiznosqclub.com/?imm_cid=9R-9W&imm_mid=5299:138983_CD4262&imm_kwd=&flow=prtc&imm_hid=779223035&c1=5299:138983_CD4262&c2=&c3= for a small Quiznos sub and cookie for $2.99. I had an old gift card (from our wreck 2.5 years ago!!) and I wasn't even sure if there was anything left on it. I checked, and ended up paying 13 cents for lunch. Nice day out:)

Then I went to Wal-Mart and bought my husband a new wedding band. White gold, just like the old one that is in the Atlantic somewhere....and it was on sale!! Don't tell him...he's on a trip to DC and I think I'll ask him to marry me when he gets home:).

I have been getting many free products in the mail--hope you've been checking out http://www.freebies4mom.com/ or your other favorite sites. In the last week I've received a box of 8 full size Nestle candy bars, the Target makeup bag with 6 products in it, a Wisk sample, a Stevia sample and a penlight! Always a nice surprise when the mail has something besides bills.

Today at CVS I bought $43.00 worth of items (two boxes Kelloggs cereal, 2 full size Bioluxe haircare products, a Colgate toothbrush, Halls cough drops, Skintimate shaving cream and a big bag of Wonka jellybeans ) for $1.40 out-of-pocket AND got back $4.50 in ECBs for the next shooping trip. I want to stress that this is pretty much a weekly occurance for me at one of the 3 drugstores. If you are new to the game and follow sites like http://www.southernsavers.com/, you will catch on very quickly!!

Also got out to my first yardsales of the season. The best deals: a new hoodie for Abby, $2; a like new black dress suit for Lee, $2. Why pay more?

I will be teaching a few couponing/bargain hunter classes in the near future and will let you all know when this happens.

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Absolutely gorgeous day here in North Carolina. While it's not as warm as I would like, I am reminded that my Maine friends are still under several feet of snow and I am looking at these:

So, what's going on at the Cliff house? Life has been fairly routine lately, and who can complain about that? We did have a little scare a few weeks back. Lee, my youngest, fell and cut his leg, requiring 10 stitches on his left shin. That wasn't the scary part, however. When they x-rayed the leg to make sure there was no chip in the bone, they discovered a "suspicious lesion/tumor." Thankfully, it turned out to be a non ossifying fibroma...which is benign and generally causes no problems. What a blessing!

On the frugal front there is too much to report, so let me just tell you what is planned for today:

1. Planting tomato, cuke and pepper seeds inside that will be transplanted outside in less than a month.
2. Hanging 3 loads of laundry on the clothesline.
3. Baking homemade cupcakes and cookies.
4. Making a crockpot of homemade granola.
5. Going for a 2 mile run.
6. Making a menu and grocery list for the coming week and checking out the deals at http://www.southersavers.com/ (not just for southerners!!)
7. Cleaning out one closet to get ready for a yard sale.
8. And last but not least, ending my 3 day diet. There are many variations of this out there and it's been around a long time. It's time to get the winter weight off and this is how I jump start. I'll follow it by a cleansing soup routine (more on that later). Here are the basics:

3 Day Diet Menu:

Each meal (3 meals a day only) for three days eat:

One of these: medium apple, orange, kiwi, grapefruit or cup of melon
One of these: regular size can of tuna, hard-boiled egg, 1/2 cup of cottage cheese, one ounce of hard cheese, Tbsp peanut butter
One of these: slice of toast, 5 saltines, half a bagel
4 cups of these, raw or cooked: carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, lettuce, cabbage, celery, onions, any greens (I don't usually have these at breakfast, although you can)

You may also have 1 cup of black coffee or tea with every meal, no sugar or creamer, but you may use sweetener.

You may have a half cup of vanilla ice cream or vanilla or plain yogurt (frozen or regular) with supper.

When I did this the first time I was in college. I guess my metabolism was much higher then, because I was hungry a lot and I would easily loose 6-7 pounds. Now, I do this and am never hungry and I only loose 2-3 pounds. As you can see from the menu, this is hardly a starvation diet and it always gets me motivated. I absolutely love the soup cleanse, my own version of a cross between the cabbage soup diet and the Mimosa/Leek soup that Mireille Guilano uses in her best seller French Women Don't Get Fat. Stay tuned...I will tell all.